Wednesday, November 26, 2014

There was a point when the Kinks and their lead guitarist Dave Davies changed everything. I can still remembering hearing "You Really Got Me" on the radio and/or Shindig and how it hit me. Those power chords were so raw and primal. For my juvenile self it was exactly what I needed. "All Day and All of the Night" followed and I was a Kinks fan. That was it. Dave's simple power playing had as it turned out a germinal influence on the hard rock and metal to follow. The Kinks came out of the blues rockers, of course, and their early repertoire included tips of the hat to some of the greats, just as often with Dave singing the lead vocals on those as not.

Well now all these years later we are here and Dave Davies is too. He gives us a solo album Rippin' Up Time (Red River 157) that shows us he not only hasn't lost it, but that he's kept it and grown it. Ten songs, seemingly originals, grace the album and they have that elementality of hard early rock as experienced now. Dave's voice still has that bad-can-be-better-than-good if it's good raucous rawness. His songs sing of the old days and today. He's got a small band on hand that rocks it and Dave's guitar still has the elemental hipness.

There's nothing slick about this album and that's how it should be. Yeah! The first punks? I don't know. Who cares? Dave still sounds good.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The only thing constant is constancy. Modern music-makers, if they are sincere about their art, find a personal aural space to dwell in and make something of. The creators may change their style over time, but each slice of time-music has a something that expresses the time we live in as it expresses something of the music-makers themselves as artists.

That was brought home to me once again with a release I recently received in the mail, Lumen Drones (ECM B0022099-02). It is a threesome playing music they dub "psychedelic drone." Well, that it is, just not anything generic in that mode.

The threesome consists of Nils Økland on the Hardanger fiddle, Per Steinar Lie on guitars, and Ørjan Haaland on drums. The latter two have been part of a post-rock outfit, The Lower Frequency in Stereo. Nils is known for his fiddle mastery. He appeared as guest on Lower Frequency's album Futuro in 2008. One thing led to another and in 2010 the three played together as a unit as part of a concert to benefit Haitian earthquake victims in 2010.

The result was that the three began getting together on a regular basis, jamming. The results were singular, with a drone psychedelic ambiance that mixed with the folk qualities of earlier folk drone music.

Lumen Drones, the self-titled album that is their first together, is the initial offering. It is what it is advertised to be, but with such an ambience and rootedness that it ends up becoming a genre of one at this point. All three contribute importantly as individual musicians, yet the totality is very much a combinatorial mix.

And that mix is a delight. I would hardly call it psychedelic light, unless by that is meant luminosity, for there is light in this music, filtered by the haze of being, dappled by the play of leaves in the wind, shifting yet constant. Yet it is not precisely "heavy," so "light" exists here also in the sense of capable of being airborne, floating above the density of our humdrum everyday existence.

Drones and the wash of ambient play is taken to heart by the three and embodied in their personal statement of what they do right now. And it is good. Very good.

Friday, November 21, 2014

The Cellar & Point is a "garage chamber" DIY group headed by Joe Branciforte on drums and Chris Botta on guitar. They show some very fascinating progressive ways on their recent album Ambit (Cuneiform). They make notable use of the studio to create a sound that sometimes reminds a little of Zappa's later synclavier works in the combination of new music, rock and jazz elements, but not so much an imitation as a lineage affiliation. They bring in some very capable group members in guitarist Terrance McManus, violinist Christopher Otto and cellist Jack McFarland (both members of the JACK quartet), vibraphonist Joe Bergen (founding member of the Mantra Percussion ensemble) and studio bassist Rufus Philpot.

They do some hefty avant rock covers of Ligeti and Webern as well as compositions of their own, both very advanced and driving. They get a sound that is of their own make, distinctive yet in the edgy new prog avant zone. There are some very hip guitar solos, some combustible drumming and much ensemble uncanniness that keeps your ears on full alert at all times.

Some of the music has an ever-shifting accent-meter funkrocking with layered ensemble patterns and variations. But everything they do has not only credibility but real brilliance.

Anyone who digs the new music-avant rock nexus will find this a beautiful example. I once again am impressed with Cuneiform's continued commitment to that netherland of music between borders that shows us the health and forward moving nature of new electricity.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

For their 10th anniversary Led Bib has come out with two simultaneous releases, one the limited edition LP The Good Egg, which was covered here several weeks ago (see the post listings to click on that), and another full-fledged CD we turn to today, The People in Your Neighborhood (Cuneiform).

This latter one is a blockbuster, with intricate compositional substantiality conjoined with full-throttle performatives. They kick it good, in short.

It hit me listening to this one that really what we have is music in the jazz-rock hardness tradition of mid-period Soft Machine, only extended with originality. The keys and bass give the electricity to it all, the drums launch the music into orbit, and the horns both have compositional importance and kick-out-the-jams solo presence.

This band is serious! The LP got my attention; the CD got my allegiance. I am forsworn now as a Led Bib fan. That's how contentful and exciting this music seems to me. All prog jazz-rock listeners and players need to check this one out. Enough, except a happy tenth anniversary to these folks.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

If you know the music of the mid-east well enough, you do not need to be told that Egypt has a fine tradition of mid-eastern large band music (Oum Kaltsoum's band comes to mind) that when done well is irresistible. The bands of this sort have a vibrant percussion section, an oud or two and other plucked stringed instruments, perhaps a piano and string bass, reeds and a flute perhaps, and a violin section. Then of course there is usually a lead vocalist or two and backup singers.

If it is the real thing there is the traditional tuning of the orchestra which differs slightly from standard Western tuning. And the arrangements are highly developed.

A modern updating of this sound that keeps to the essentials of the style in exciting ways can be heard on the recent album by Jalilah's Raks Sharki. The album is called Stage Cuts.

It has all the elements described above and a pronounced rhythmic underpinning that makes it very much music for dance (but no, it sounds nothing like disco or the modern equivalent).

This is excellent music that brings out all that makes the style a joy to hear. It grooves like nothing else quite does.

Monday, November 17, 2014

If you were there, then you probably still are. I refer to 1971-2 when the Dutch group Focus hit the FM airwaves with their prog-metal classic "Hocus Pocus." It was a song pretty ubiquitous (everywhere) then. I must say I liked it well. Time went by and I all but forgot the impact that the song had on us, many of us.

The band went on to do more excellent prog-metal things but I was preoccupied more with jazz and new music so I missed much of it. The band went its separate ways in 1978, but reformed in the new millennium. Guitarist Jan Akkerman was gone but original member organist-flautist Thijs van Leer was on hand with a quartet that included Menno Gootjes on guitar, who turns out to be quite good.

This year the newly constituted band re-recorded their biggest hits from the original days, Golden Oldies (Island Out of Focus Records), and I've been listening. Of course "Hocus Pocus" is there along with eight other gems.

I must say that the band sounds great, the songs still come across as vital and this all makes for a corkingly good album.

The sound is vivid and the band cranks it out like yesterday was today, which in some ways it still is. I recommend this one if you were there or even if you were not. It's excellent music.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Australian blues-rock-alt institution Steve Tallis returns with a very strong effort on The First Degree (Zombi Music 7). Steve made a few acoustic oriented albums in the past few years (type his name in the search box above for the review posts on those) but he returns to an electric hardness on The First Degree, which comes across with a blues-rock heft that works extraordinarily well.

Steve has a heavily underscored voice that comes in part out of Chicago lineages and Captain Beefheart. But it is only an affinity and a rooted thing--because the music is very much Steve's, as is the ultimate sound. He has his regular trio on hand, Steve doing the vocals and the electric guitars, Skip McDonald on electric bass, organ and backup vocals, and Evan Jenkins on the drums.

There is a lyrical directness that is poetic but hard edged. Steve Tallis sings of love won and lost, longing and tough times, all which gives the music a soulful quality that the music amplifies. There are some hard rocking riff tunes, some urban blues influenced kickers and some metal-meets-classic Chess records mixes.

It is all very much on the mark. Songs, vocals and electric instrumentalisms all come together to produce what one might call a Steve Tallis masterpiece. It belongs up there with important rock releases of the year, no question. If you don't know Steve Tallis, and you probably should, this is the place to start. If you like the transient zone between metal and classic electric blues, this album covers it to a "tee"! In its very own way.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

I am playing catch-up again today, getting some space to cover an LP-only release by the avant rocking UK-based jazz improv outfit Led Bib. The Good Egg (Cuneiform) starts and finishes in high gear. They are a band with a manic energy that only lets up for a few quiet moments and you don't want it any different once you get on their wavelength.

The band consists of bandleader Mark Holub, drums; Pete Grogan, saxophone; Chris Williams, saxophone; Liran Donin, double bass and Toby McLaren keyboards/piano. Donin's very strong double bass and the highly electrical jolt of the music gives everything a rather heavy patina in common with avant prog-rock yet there is the freedom and solo jolt of avant jazz.

The music was recorded at two different live venues and gives you the kinetic charge a good live session should have. Chris Williams wrote one of the numbers; Mark Holub the rest of them. They are intricate and driving springboards for a good deal of together reed work and some prominent keys. The bass-drums rhythm team has clout and creative thrust.

If an electric charge in open avant jazz-rock is something you dig this album gives you all of that and some distinctive ways of going about it all that sound great after a few listens.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

If I am a little late posting on this one, I apologize to the artists. It's not because the album today is less worthy. I've been pummeled with promos so much that my on-deck stacks have been in need of serious pruning. This one slipped into limbo as a result. Nonetheless this is solid.

I speak of course of the co-led Lenny Sendersky-Tony Romano group and their album Desert Flower (LeTo). Lenny plays alto and soprano, Tony is on acoustic classical guitar. They gather together a hip congregation of heavies in Steve LaSpina on upright bass, and Matt Kane at the drums. Then they add some guests of note for two cuts each--the inimitable Randy Brecker on trumpet, vibes vet Joe Locke and singer Cleve Douglass.

The main attraction are the co-leaders. Each supplies four originals and they are tuneful, harmonically active ones that set the table well for soloing. A standard, "Nature Boy" is there. And then there's a not-so-well-known Duke Ellington number, "My Fathers Island." The very out-front, original vocals of Cleve Douglass makes this song come very much alive. I'd play it if I had a radio show.

Lenny gives us a gorgeous tone and he has good ideas. Tony has a very well-schooled mainstream bossa-to-postbop versatility that comes through in artistic ways. He is someone to hear, surely.

The band cooks, solos are sparkling, and in the end one feels satisfied that good jazz has happened.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Contemporary Afrobeat/new African music from Mozambique comes to us nicely in a mobile unit anthology of artists and music from the north of the country recorded on location over two months for the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa. Wired for Sound, Mozambique (Freshlyground) presents 17 of those tracks, covering zouk, traditional sounds, electric grooves and a little African rap.

The sound quality is excellent, the performances inspired for the most part. It gives you an excellent picture of the music scene there now. It is a mix of traditional and electric instruments, vocalizing songwriters, choirs and bands.

And yes what's going on there as far as electric guitar and bass playing can be readily heard in a holistic context. We've come a long ways from the early folk-highlife sounds of early-to-mid last century. Everything grooves and has integrity, a drive that is African and a bluesy demeanor that appeals.

If you want to know what's up there now, this gives you an excellent leg up on it all. And it is a joy to hear.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

As always, New York serves as a potent breeding ground for new improvisational music, jazz if you will. Guitarist Tom Chang brings us a stirring example of the sort of combinations possible these days on his album Tongue & Groove (Raw Toast). He takes his own formidable compositional and guitar-wielding skills and forms around it a band of some heavy players. Chang brings in a potent one-two-punch reed section in Greg Ward on alto and Jason Rigby on tenor. He picks a rhythm section of equal weight in Chris Lightcap on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums. Then he adds the world music influence of Akshay Anatapadmanabhan on kanjira and mridangam (South Asian hand drums), and Subash Chandran on konnakol (Indian rhythmic vocal syllabification).

The compositions are inventive, modern, freely articulated straight-eight swinging affairs that give good room for the improvisations and set up loose grooves that lope along with heat and torque.

The South Asian percussion contingent adds another dimension when present, but it all fits together as a modern, unified mostly post-rock-funk kind of open jazz. Everybody sounds great and Tom Chang shows how his guitar work synthesizes in its own way the advances that a rather electric guitar approach have made over the past decades. He wastes no notes and says much in compact solo spaces. That is true too of the reeds.

It's music of today, fused, open and complicated by nice twists and turns.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Joel Harrison is a guitarist I've been following over the years, beginning with a review for Cadence a pretty long while back. I've missed things of his I am sure, but he seems to be playing ever more cohesively in recent times. You can hear some very good things on a recent album of his, Mother Stump (Cuneiform).

He's been thinking about his roots more lately, and this album reflects a kind of summing up of what has made him what he is today. The album puts the emphasis on hitting it with compositional material playing a lesser role. Most of the music is in the form of covers, an eclectic mix that ranges from Luther Vandross, Paul Motian and a spiritual to George Russell and Leonard Cohen.

The music comes to us in quartet or trio format, with good contributions from sidemen Michael Bates (bass), Jeremy "Bean" Clemons (drums), and Glenn Patscha (keyboards).

But it is Joel who makes it all exceptional with a full-fledged smartly soulful psychedelic jazz transparency that varies from track-to-track. He may go to the slide for a down home southern blusiness or he may create drifts of soundscapes that layer atop a rocking rhythm section. And just about anything in between. There is as much variety of rootfulness as the mix of songs would indicate. And yet there is always Joel with a sense of balance directing things forward.

When the music is done you are left with the feeling that Joel Harrison is in many ways a complete artist, not a bopper but someone who has put down roots in an alternative vision of lineages. You won't hear Wes Montgomery rechannelings (and I am not ragging on that either) so much as you will hear the electricity that came into guitar playing from blues and rock and combined with the notefulness of the jazz sense.

For all that this is a very good record. It gives you a better idea of where Joel Harrison has come from than perhaps any previous record, yet it gives you also where he is, right now.

It makes you want to hear where he is going to go next. But it also satisfies the lover of really nicely done guitar playing. He is a consummate artist and he shows you why on Mother Stump.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Today we have music that complements well the recording I reviewed on this past Friday. It is again guitarist Richard Pinhas, this time in tandem with drummer Yoshida Tatsuya, for an album-lengthed soundscape called Welcome in the Void (Cuneiform). Like Friday's Tikkun it features Richard's looped-guitar soundscapes, again uncanny space explorations of infinite sustain, a post-Frippertronics spectacular. This time a second guitarist is replaced by the energetic space drumming of Yoshida Tatsuya.

As before this is music of great cosmic plentitude, a droning, blazing collision of like-minded sounds. I like this one no less than Tikkun, though perhaps that one has an even more impactful jolt because it is a larger wash of sound at times--at least in terms of having two guitars, sequencer and drums.

But that is in no way to take something away from this one. It is a definite winner. If you had to start with just one, I would go first with Tikkun. But then it is most certainly a good thing to have both.

Grego's First Blog: 1,001 Knights, Reviews of Music CDs for Guitar, Bass and Otherwise

About This Blog

Grego Applegate Edwards writes this column.

The Gapplegate Guitar and Bass Blog has grown over several years to contain more than 1,000 reviews of CDs by guitarists, bassists, vocalists and otherwise. Each musician is a hero in my mind, a Knight in Shining Armor, devoting a lifetime to music that you can enjoy and treasure. Here are my 1,000 knights, and my many 1,000 nights spent listening so I could review this music for you. If you care about what you hear and want to know more about what is out there, you are the person I have in mind as I write these postings. If music isn't an important part of your life this blog is probably not for you.

Various musical genres get attention on these pages: jazz and rock with guitarists and/or bassists playing a prominent role, classical music for the guitar, world music, blues, roots, electric music, vocalists.

I cover other jazz and improvisation on the Gapplegate Music Review blog (see link on this page) and modern classical and avant garde concert music on the new blogsite Classical-Modern Music Review (see link).

About Me

I am a life-long writer, musician, composer and editor. I wrote for Cadence for many years, a periodical covering jazz and improv music. My combined Blogspot blogs (as listed in the links) now cover well over 3,000 recordings in review. It's been a labor of love. The music is chosen because I like it, for the most part, so you won't find a great deal of nastiness here. I have no affiliations and gain nothing from liking what I do, so that makes me somewhat impartial. I do happen to like a set of certain musics done well, so it's not everything released that gets coverage on these blogs. I have thirteen volumes of compositions available on amazon.com. Just type in "Grego Applegate Edwards" to find them. (But one is under "Gregory Applegate Edwards.") I went to music and higher education schools and got degrees. It changed my life and gave me the ability to think and write better. I've studied with master musicians, too. The benefits I gained from them are invaluable. I appreciate my readers. You are why I write these reviews. I hope the joy of music enriches your life like it does mine. Thank you. And thank you to all the artists that make it possible.